Spike TV on Thursday announced it would air two live undercard fights leading into the UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields pay-per-view on April 30. The UFC’s main television partner, Spike plans to telecast Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald and Sean Pierson vs. Jake Ellenberger at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.
Spike TV has done well with its UFC Live Prelims telecasts, averaging 1.45 million viewers per episode over the series’ history.
“The Ultimate Fighter Season 5” winner, Diaz (13-6) looks to rebound from a decision loss to Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 125 on New Year’s Day. He faces MacDonald (10-1), a Canadian making his first appearance in nearly a year, losing by late-fight TKO stoppage to Top 10 welterweight Carlos Condit.
Another Canadian, Pierson (11-4) heads into his fight against Ellenberger with a couple sizeable advantages. He is truly fighting on his home turf as a Toronto native, plus Ellenberger is a last-minute replacement for his original opponent, Brian Foster, who had to withdraw due to a brain hemmorhage. Ellenberger (23-5) does enter the fight coming off a narrow split decision victoria over Carlos Eduardo Rocha at UFC 126 on Super Bowl weekend.
UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre defends his title against former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields in the main event at UFC 129 before a sold-out crowd of 55,000 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre.